Chapter Summary: Magnus is up to something. Alec is concerned.

The other side of the coin

As the first moments of awarenes hit him, Alec burries his nose more firmly inside the pillow, breathing in the shared scent and sighs in contentment. He may have woken up in Magnus' apartment before but the prospect of it becoming a daily occurrence makes something clench inside his stomach, in a happy way.

He stretches his spine and blinks a few times to find not only the bed empty and cold but, also to hear the indistinguishable chatter coming from the other side of the wall. He frowns, then tries to pin point which room the sound is coming from. As he realizes it being Magnus' study, he quickly fishes out his pants, puts on a tank top and pads barefoot towards the noise.

He has to blink at the doorway, as he takes in what seems to be a handful of downworlders of all kinds, surrounding the warlock. Some seem to have taken the space of one of the couches, sipping a glass of martini, while others are actively partaking in a coversation with the warlock himself, whose hands move in precision as the pot brews on the table.

Still blinking, Alec startles as Magnus suddenly takes in his presence in the doorway, making every other downworlder in the room also notice him. Shifting on his feet a little, Alec frowns to hide his embarrassment. "Morning," he says curtly.

The eyes continue to stare at him like he is a sore limb in this picture, which only makes Alec more grumpy, and forces him to cross his arms as he takes in the scene before him. "What're you doing?" he asks, disregarding the indignation of the few guests.

Magnus seems to not notice the ongoing war between the two forces as he continues to stir his pot. "A few of my friends, or more likely friends of friends, required my help. And as you know, I'm the best at doing favours," he says it casually and throws a rather empty smile in Alec's direction.

Alec isn't impressed.

"Well, I'm going to have breakfast. Join me when you're done," he says and turns to leave, hearing as a few murmur who is he to talk like that, and somehow even Magnus' admission to Alec being his boyfriend, who now lives with him, doesn't manage to put Alec at ease.

Magnus doesn't join him for breakfast that morning.

Fair to say, it leaves an impact for the rest of Alec's day at the institute. As more mundanes fall victim throughout the night, and they get no closer to answering what is the cause, the familiar nasty feeling soon settles inside the shadowhunter's stomach. So when Clary Fairchild comes to his office with a distraught look, he already knows his day is only going to get worse before hoping to get better.

"What can I do for you?" he asks politely. The carefully crafted friendship between the two of them has been rocky ever since the night of the incident at lake Lyn. He knows, deep inside, that something else happened back there, something his parabatai and the redhead doesn't want him knowing, be it out of protectiveness or something else. Still it doesn't help the hurt from forming at being deemed unworthy of such information.

"I…" she cuts herself off, before shaking herself out of it. "I wanted to ask for a few weeks of vacation. For me and… Jace."

Alec stares at her.

She stares back.

He stares some more.

"What?" he asks, like he is asking a child if you really wanna make your parent mad right now.

She shifts on her feet. "I mean, so much has been going on and-"

"Clary," he cuts her off, his hands crossed and brought to his chin. "Are you somehow not aware of the mundanes being slaughtered left and right? We need every possible force in the field right now."

She nods, eyes wide. "I know, yeah, totally get it, but, just for a while, you know? Even a week would do."

He narrows his eyes at her. "Are you not telling me something?"

She blinks. "Nope. You know everything."

"Really," he drawls. "I still seem to be in the dark how my parabatai rune reappered."

She freezes, then smiles. "I can't answer what I don't know, Alec."

"And your sudden interest in vacation together has nothing to do with that?"

"No, I mean, sure. Jace has been badly injured, and probably shocked a lot, so…"

He sighs, briging his hands to his forehead.

"Please, just for a few days-"

"Okay."

"Okay?" she asks, surprised.

"Four days. That's it. That's the amount of time I can make other soldiers double their shifts," the sting at the words make Clary flinch a little but she doesn't take the bait, and continues to stare stubbornly at him. "Rest and get yourself back in shape in those days."

"Got it."

As she goes for the door knob, Alec stops her. "Even if you don't trust me enough with the information, I trust you to take care of my parabatai."

The steady gaze he receives, assures him, if only a little.

"Always."

Opening the doors to their now shared apartment, Alec half-expects to find the masses of downwolders still buzz about, but the place is quiet. Empty, and quiet.

Brushing his eyes harshly, Alec shrugs out of his clothes and sits down on the sofa, waiting for the warlock to come back home.

He must have dozzed off, because it is pushing past the hours of the night and leaning towards the first rays of sunshine, when the clatter of the aparment doors wakes him up. He pushes the pillow he has been hugging throughout his nap to the side, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

As his eyes land on the warlock's, who seems like a deer caught in the headlights, Alec is having about enough. To Alec's utter annoyance the warlock still tries to not very subtly creep into the bedroom, but Alec snaps before he could.

"Is that's how it's going to be from now on?" he asks, his voice edgy.

He gets a furstated sigh in return. The nerve.

"I was out, now I'm back," Magnus says in a matter-of-factly tone.

"At four in the morning," Alec clarifies. And the tone of his seems to brush Magnus the wrong way, because his eyes burn in a fight or flight state.

"I don't have to report my every move to you, Alec."

The way he says it, makes Alec spring to his feet. "I didn't know where you were, I was worried!"

Something seems to hit, but not enough, because soon a mask is back on. "I'm sorry I worried you, now can I go to sleep? I'm really tired-"

"Why did you even ask me to move in with you?"

The quiet that follows is defeaning. Alec's words, while spoken in almost a whisper, serve their purpose. Magnus stands frozen, and as he turns to find Alec's desperate expression, his mask falters, his body shifting back towards Alec.

"I know you're hurting," Alec continues. "I know how much it meant to you, but I was there for you. I am here for you. And I thought you knew by now that you can lean on me, so why are you pushing me a-way?" as his words break on the last sylable, he finds himself gathered in the warlock's hands, somehow being comforted himself, instead of the other way around. He stares at the ground angrily.

"I'm sorry, I didn't…" He trails off, pulling back to let Alec look at him. His eyes keep darting from left to right, seemingly unsure which direction to settle, but what matters, is that they are his eyes. Magnus is back. It lets Alec relax at little. "I don't know how to…rely on others anymore. It's been so long. Too long since I had anything even remotely close to a companionship, much less what me and you have."He sighs as he brings a hand to Alec's cheek, Alec cupping his own palm over it. "No matter how experienced I might be, I got so used to expecting everyone to betray or leave me that my first course of action was to lash out." He smiles sadly, his hand falling on the crook of Alec's elbow. "The fact that I lost my Title is nobody's else but my own fault. Because I lashed out at you, bacause I didn't trust you enough-"

"Magnus-"

"No, let me say this. I sometimes tend to make very rash decisions, and this time it cost me dearly. I would hate for something like that to cost you too. You're too dear to me." As the browns orbs lock with his own, Alec, gathers him in his arms, bodies flushed together. If they weren't so emotionally spent, he would probably pick him up and have his way in their bedroom, but more than that, he feels like what Magnus needs right now is security. And lust is just a distraction, even if for them it usually is anything but.

"Magnus…" he breathes against his lips, foreheads touching. "You can trust me, with anything you want to tell me. I want to be there for you." He then swallows. "Let me there for you."

As a lone tear falls down Magnus' cheek Alec gathers it with his thumb, feeling Magnus nod. "Okay."

It has been days and Isabelle doesn't feel herself getting any closer to the mystery that is on her table.

She rubs her tired eyes, and wills it to miraculously tell her the answers.

She huffs, frustated.

What she does know, though, is that the demon has been growing progressively weaker. If before she still feared for her safety, or more likely the necessity to put it down in case of self defence, nowadays the demon can barely lift a limb. It looks exchausted. From what, she can't figure out.

Not like she has been ripping it apart.

Knowing she needs more cafeine in her system, she proceeds to leave the lab when suddenly the vital readings of the demon skyrock and she has to rush back in. "What…" She can only watch in bemusement as the demon's skin slowly start to unravel, leaving the otherwise erect spikes on the outer parts of legs and arms exposed around the raw white skin. Then the sturdier skin starts to burst, leaving only a path of green substance in its wake.

The demon gurgles.

A deep throaty sound leaves its mouth.

Isabelle isn't sure how she is supposed to bring a demon back to life, but she tries the basics of the human medical aid. Just as she is about to inject him with a medicine that would probably put it at ease, the pale hand shoots out to grab at hers. She yelps, startled, but then can only stare wide eyed as the pitch black eyes flicker for a moment to something akin to deep blue, then settle back to black. Stunned but still on a mission, Isabelle tries to pry her hand free, but the demon's hold is fierce, and as she is just about to retort to force, the indistinguishable gurgling suddenly becomes that much clearer. "Hh..el..p".

With that, the demon slumps, black eyes rolling back to its head as the whites appear in their stead.

Staring at the dead demon on the table, Isabelle can only think about how badly they messed up.

When Alec gets the call from Isabelle, he is quite reluctant to leave Magnus' side, who still seems rather unstable to Alec, but knowing better than insulting the warlock this way, Alec follows Magnus' urging and leaves him be. Getting reassured he would call Catarina in times of need.

Isabelle grabs him as soon as he enters the Institute, dragging him to her lab, and shutting it with a lock.

"What's going on, Izzy?" he asks, his feet stilling when he takes in the sight ahead. The melting puddle that is very likely the remains of the demon. "Izzy, what did you do?" He has to pat himself on the back for the calm in his voice.

"The melting, gross situation on the table is not the problem right now," Isabelle says dismissively, only getting Alec more confused. "Alec," she says firmly to take his focus back to her. "I think we made a mistake."

He shakes his head, not understanding. "What're you talking about?"

Isabelle breathes in, then exhales. "I don't think we were bringing in a demon in the Institute at all."

At his promting, she continues.

"They are human, Alec."

Alec could only stare at her.

Because it was crazy, what she was saying. "No, Izzy, possession demons can't- they don't work like that-"

"It's not a possession demon, Alec," she stops him. "It's a human turned demon."

"No, Izzy, it can't-"

"I've seen it, Alec! The way their eyes changed color back to the human irises, the way it was losing strength? Angels, we were probably starving the poor thing." She starts pacing around the room, her head in her hands. "And I've been experimenting on it, them. I don't even know if it was a she or he."

"Izzy, Iz, look at me." Alec takes hold of her hands to make her look at him. He really doesn't want to believe it, but he has seen it himself. The odd behaviour of the recent demons. It was the main reason they even took one alive. Because Alec has seen it clearly in its eyes, just didn't want to admit it - fear – something foreign for a demon, but an emotion that prevented Alec to allow a finishing blow to the very same demon.

He closes his eyes, gathering himself. "If what you're saying is true, then we need to find the one responsible. They can't just be turning up like demons randomly. Someone must be turning them."

Isabelle frowns. "Like who, Valentine? He's dead. Unless it's some of his followers."

"No, I don't think it has anything to do with Valentine. Valentine might have been clever, but this…this is demonic," he sighs, feeling a headache coming.

"Well, can you ask Magnus about it?" she asks casually, such a innocent question, yet it makes Alec flinch. He really doesn't want to involve the warlock in this right now, but… "Yea, I will," he says in resignation.

As soon as Alec finds the warlock in the study, all the thoughts of asking Magnus for help quickly evaporate.

The place was a… mess.

The books left askew, recipes covering the floor and as his feet crunch the glass on the floor he then confirms the fate of the potions. In the end, what makes his heart skip a beat, is Magnus himself. Sitting on the floor with legs crossed, the warlock's stare is locked onto his hands, palms turned upwards. He continues that position even after Alec comes into the room, seemingly not noticing his presence.

"Magnus…?" he asks as he inches forward. When he gets no answer, he steels himself and makes to grab onto the warlock's shoulder, but as soon as his fingers touch the fabric, a sort of static current goes through his body and he feels himself being propelled backwards, slamming straight at the opposite wall.

He grunts as he falls with the dust coming from the broken wall and a few paintings.

"Alec..? Alec!"

His head is buzzing as the urgent voice finally reaches him and the familiar ringed fingers take his face in his palms to inspect. "Are you okay? Tell me you're okay." His voice is franctic and Alec wants to reassure him that he is, in fact, okay, but he only manages a grimace as his back twists painfully. He feels the warlock still, then go for his back but in the last moment back out. "I will call for Catarina. Stay here."

As he rushes back, Alec can't help wondering what the hell happened.

He slumps on the ground, somehow sprawling himself on his back, coughing.

His vision still swims slightly, but he feels like he is getting more of his focus back.

The next moment a vision of snow white fills his senses, and he can feel Catarina's magic working on him. He lays still but finds his mind going back to Magnus. "Mag…" he tries, but coughs more. "Stay still," Catarina says.

"No, Magnus-"

"I will bring him to you, later," she says and Alec feels reassured. He lets himself relax.

After a moment he succumbs to the darkness.

As he comes to, he quickly takes notice of his aching body.

Even with the help of the warlock's healing magic, it would take a few days to fully regain his strength. And the bigger the impact… A sigh escapes Alec. He is sure Magnus is going to be blaming himself for this. And though he isn't sure what promted such a reaction, Alec is certain it wasn't Magnus' fault.

He opens his eyes, and is surprised to see the warlock in question actually sitting on the edge of his, their, bed, albeit a bit too far away to reach. "Magnus?" he asks, and gets a flinch in return. Great. We're off to a great start. Alec sighs and proceeds to sit up and has to wince as he does so. Magnus gets up on his feet at once, trying to palcate him while avoiding to touch him.

"You can touch me, you know," Alec says, and the averting of the eyes tells him that the warlock is aware of what he was doing. "No, I-"

"Mangus, I'm okay. Really. It wasn't your fault-"

"Stop saying that!" he bursts out, freezing Alec mid-attempt to sit up. The warlock sighs and slump on the bed. "It shouldn't have happened. It should have never happened," he puts vehemence on the word. He takes to look at his palms upside down. "What I did…my magic, it…I haven't lost control of it ever since…" He shakes his head, clenching the said hand in a tight fist. "I could have seriously hurt you. I did hurt you."

Giving up on inching closer as it seemed to spook Magnus more, Alec settles against the headboard. "What's going on, Magnus?"

"My...demonic side has started to get stronger."

Alec blinks. "What?"

"Usually, the warlocks have a balance between human and demon sides, always wavering but never pushing down the boundaries. But recently…I can't seem to access my human side as easily as the demonic." He laughs bitterly. "Maybe I'm really a monster, who just pretended to be human to make himself feel better."

Having heard about enough Alec pushes himself enough to take hold of Magnus' bicep. He tenses, but at least he doesn't pull away. "Magnus, I think…" he sighs, frustrated. "I might have an idea of what's going on."

As the brown irises settle onto him with such despairing hope, Alec can hardly contain his regular breathing. He takes a moment to compose himself. "There has been demonic attacks, in the mundane world, mostly, and we thought it was some kind of a new species of demons, but Izzy found information that proves otherwise."

"What did you find?" he asks, shifting a little to face Alec more.

"Izzy thinks they were human," he says and watches how Magnus' eyes widen. "We don't know how or who, but we think someone is praying on the humans and turning them into monsters. That would explain how you're losing control-"

"No," Magnus shakes his head. "It's impossible to turn a human completely into a demon that we saw back in that alley." He sighs. "It's not the humans getting preyed upon, it's the human side."

Alec stares at him, waiting for what he suspects is true.

"Someone is turning the downworlders into demons."

to be continued...?